Broke: What Every American Business Must Do to Restore Our Financial Stability and Protect Our Future Hardcover - 2009 - 1st Edition

From the jacket flap

America is broke, and onlyreal business leadership can fix it

Now is a time of big problems for America. With a mountain of debt and trillions more in unfunded obligations, by most accounting standards we are already insolvent. Alongside potential financial bankruptcy, a bankruptcy of values has left us ethically rudderless, threatening the effectiveness of our response. These are indeed big problems, and it will take big ideas and, most of all, a big dose of leadership to solve them.

Pulling no punches, Broke looks America's toughest issues square in the face and doesn't flinch in singling out who's chiefly responsible: us. Whether or not we wanted them, business leaders now own these problems, argues renowned business turnaround expert and veteran Army officer John Mumford. And only by being truly accountable leaders can we pull both America and our own businesses back from the brink.

A 360-degree vision of a national turnaround, Broke describes America's most daunting challenges in clear, nonpartisan terms, relying on keen, factual analysis and a long view of history. This stirring call to renewal also gives leaders of both large and small enterprises a blueprint with measurable steps to protect and enhance their businesses while helping the country flourish. Learn how your entrepreneurial know-how can help America with powerful guidance on:

• Applying business leadership principles to the political process
• Promoting financial stability by avoiding recent hazards such as liquidity traps, as well as such looming dangers as inflation
• Bringing your business's strengths to bear in unexpected areas such as foreign relations and anti-terror efforts
• Managing vital resources and encouraging sane environmental policies with innovative energy, water, and pollution solutions
• Exemplifying a new ethic of accountable leadership

Filled with practical action steps, goals, takeaway points, and results measures, Broke is a no-nonsense guide for any leader ready to roll up their sleeves and do what it takes for a better business and a better America.